Fireworks Suck

Just in time for the Fourth of July, Troy Patterson argues in Slate, "fireworks suck."

Just as it is incalculably more thrilling to watch a piano burn than, say, kindling, there is more satisfaction in watching actual stuff explode-cars, volcanoes, toasters, what have you-than in witnessing explosions that produce only bombast. When fireworks blow up, the only things up-blowing are the fireworks themselves. There is no drama. There is violence but there is not sex. There is a feeling of danger without a corresponding spirit of adventure.